Dave Bakke: Painting isn’t sold, but it catches artist’s eye

Dave Bakke

Wednesday

Apr 29, 2009 at 12:01 AMApr 29, 2009 at 9:49 AM

Evelyn Wilson was particularly interested in the column a few weeks ago about the Boris Anisfeld painting that Springfieldian Russ McAfee once kept in his van, then put up for bids last Friday at Christie’s auction house in New York City.

Evelyn Wilson was particularly interested in the column a few weeks ago about the Boris Anisfeld painting that Springfieldian Russ McAfee once kept in his van, then put up for bids last Friday at Christie’s auction house in New York City.

Evelyn, who lives in Springfield, was a student of Anisfeld at the Art Institute in Chicago. In fact, he once made her cry. We’ll get to that later.

First of all, the Anisfeld painting “The River Canyon” did not sell Friday at Christie’s. The McAfees, who watched the auction live online, were hoping to get at least $40,000 for the painting, which Russ bought for $100 at an auction in New Berlin in the 1980s.

But the top bid Friday was “only” $26,000. The family declined to sell at that price and is holding on to the painting for now.

Auctioning fine Russian art isn’t like selling grandma’s dining room table at an estate sale in Loami. The rules are different, and the stakes are higher.

Raymond McAfee, Russ’ son, said a Christie’s official noted that two of the biggest collectors of Anisfeld art recently bought a significant amount from Anisfeld’s grandson. The fact that those two collectors were out of the running hurt the bidding Friday.

Raymond says the official told him not to give up hope because things can change quickly among collectors of fine art. Raymond, being an auctioneer, already knows how the game is played.

“In every auction situation,” he says, “there’s winners, sleepers and guys who get hung back on the wall.”

It sounds like there were times when Evelyn would have liked to have hung Anisfeld himself on a wall somewhere. She and four of her friends studied under Anisfeld at the Art Institute in Chicago. They were in the same class as LeRoy Neiman, who made his fame painting sports figures in his bold, colorful style.

“I had just finished reading your article to my husband when one of those girls called me from Hammond, Ind.,” says Evelyn. “I said, ‘I have to read you this article.’

“There are three of us (students) left. Two have died. We were all of 18 then and didn’t realize what a wonderful education we were getting at the Art Institute and how important and well-known Boris Anisfeld was.”

Evelyn, who is 82, remembers Anisfeld as having a long, scraggly beard and gray hair to his shoulders. He still had a heavy Russian accent that made him difficult to understand. She remembers him very well for something else.

“I had worked on this painting,” she recalls, “and in the background of this setup there was a sort of hanging with a pretty design. I was painting that and ignoring the rest of the scene.

“He didn’t like it. He came up behind me, took my brush, dipped it in turpentine and washed the whole thing out. Paint was dripping down the canvas. I went to the washroom and cried and cried and cried.

“But I think somehow we learned something from him.”

Evelyn went on to teach art at schools in Davenport, Iowa. After her husband was transferred to Springfield about 35 years ago, Evelyn worked in the graphics department for the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine. She also did calligraphy for official certificates issued by the state. She taught art in adult education programs in Springfield. She is a member of the Prairie Art Alliance.

“These girls I went to the Art Institute with,” she says, “were all doing artwork their whole lives — two of them right up until their death. The three of us who remain are still doing some. We all remember Boris.”

For about $15,000 each, the women could buy the McAfees’ painting and share a more tangible reminder of their old teacher. Or perhaps they don’t want to remember him quite that much.

Dave Bakke can be reached at
788-1541 or dave.bakke@sj-r.com.

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